


Incurable Wounds

by bigwolfpup



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Anakin cries a lot, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Extended Scene, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 02:37:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9414290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigwolfpup/pseuds/bigwolfpup
Summary: Anakin can't let Ahsoka go, but he has no choice. Not after she chose to leave herself.





	

**Author's Note:**

> An extended last scene from The Clone Wars season 5, episode 20.

“I’m sorry, Master… but I’m not coming back.”

Anakin’s eyes widened. Ahsoka wasn’t coming back… She was serious. Her eyes were serious and her heart was set on it. How could she do that to him? How could Ahsoka just leave Anakin like that?!

He watched as she walked out of the temple. He knew there were tears in her eyes. Her voice betrayed it, but he would be lying to himself if he wasn’t holding back his own as he looked down at the string of beads in his hand. They were hers. They belonged with Ahsoka, even if she was leaving. It would spare him the pain of having to look at them every single day and feel like he had failed his padawan.

He ran after her. The tears in his eyes dried in the wind, and he called out her name. “Ahsoka, wait. Ahsoka, I need to talk to you!”

She stopped walking at her master calling her name, and he came to a stop an arm’s reach away from her.

“Why are you doing this?”

“The Council didn’t trust me, so how can I trust myself?”

“What about me? I believed in you, I stood by you!”

“I know you believe in me, Anakin, and I’m grateful for that. But this isn’t about you. I can’t stay here any longer… Not now…”

“The Jedi Order is your life. You can’t just throw it away like this! Ahsoka, you are making a mistake.”

Anakin looked Ahsoka in the eyes. There was pain from both of them, both looking like they could not separate, and yet they had to. There was fear of losing a friend in Anakin’s eyes.

A sister.

“Maybe, but I have to figure this out on my own. Without the Council… and without you.”

He turned his back to her. “I understand… more than you realize, I understand wanting to walk away from the Order.”

“I know.”

The words pieced deep into Anakin. He couldn’t stand to look at her like this. He was holding himself back so much, but the look of surprise and painful truth was too much to hold back. He wasn’t some emotionless droid who didn’t know the difference between right and wrong.

Finally, he looked back at her, and she was walking away. She was leaving him for good. He wanted to reach out for her, to pull her into a hug and never let her go, but he knew he couldn’t possibly do that. Ahsoka had made her decision, and he had to accept it for what it was. No more padawan. No more friendship. No more little sister.

Ahsoka descended the steps in the Coruscant sunset, and when her figure could no longer be seen, that was when Anakin let his tears fall in silence. His throat felt so tight, like he couldn’t breathe, and his heart pounded in his chest. His vision blurred beyond the point where he could see clearly anymore, and all he could see was a red-orange haze from the sunset.

Her image was burned into his memory. She would forever be his little sister, his padawan that he loved so very much. His padawan that he could no longer touch, no longer feel through their bond within the Force. It was a dead as his mother, never to return, to be dead forever for as long as he lived until he was reunited with her within the Force. Oh, how he longed for that day already, the day that he could be reunited with Ahsoka and give her the biggest hug he could give her.

Footsteps sounded behind Anakin, and then a hand was on his shoulder. All bets were off then, and a choked sob left his throat. His hand came up to his face and covered his mouth as if to cover up the sounds of him being weak.

“Anakin…I’m so sorry.”

Obi-Wan’s voice… it was in a sense somewhat comforting, but nothing could have made him stop crying at that point. He was too far gone. Anakin just couldn’t let go of his padawan. But here he was watching her leave as his knees felt weak, and as he brought up his other hand to his face, tears streaming down like rivers, his knees gave out on him.

Anakin openly sobbed at the top of the steps of the Jedi temple. On his knees, he felt his weakest, his most vulnerable in front of members of the Council. In front of Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan sat beside Anakin and pulled him into a hug. Jedi code be damned, Anakin was a broken man who had just lost a dear friend. Let the Council see him sob in pain. All Obi-Wan could do was attempt to comfort him, but the older Jedi knew that no amount of comforting could heal the wound cut deep into Anakin’s heart.

Anakin leaned into his former master heavily. He cried into Obi-Wan’s shoulder, and he was glad the older didn’t mind it.

“I didn’t expect for this to happen, either, Anakin… I don’t care what the Jedi have to say about letting your padawan go, you have a right to be upset.”

“She’s gone, Obi-Wan… I’ll never see her again…”

Obi-Wan held Anakin tighter. As much as he wanted to deny it and tell Anakin that he would see her again, there was no way he could guarantee it. He couldn’t tell Anakin that he would see Ahsoka again. There was no hope in that promise.

The sun set fully, and both Anakin and Obi-Wan were left in darkness. Anakin sobbed until he had no more tears to shed, and he even continued to sob dryly without tears until his throat was raw and his body was weak. He felt sick, but still he cried, still he called out to Ahsoka through their nonexistent bond. There was nothing there. He was met with a cold emptiness that was similar to the day his mother died in his arms, and in a way, Ahsoka had died too.

Soon, Anakin was passed out from exhaustion. Dried tear trails streaked his face like scars, his face resting in a hurt expression. This was Anakin at his weakest point, and Obi-Wan was there for him to raise him back up when he woke up. Anakin was a strong young man, and even things such as losing his padawan would soon nothing but a scar to him. This scar may be deeper than the others, but it would turn to a scar as time passed.

The end of the Clone Wars very possibly was just on the horizon. There was still much fighting left, but with a strong effort, perhaps it would end on a high note, and maybe Ahsoka would come back to Anakin after she had figured things out.

Maybe there was a new hope for the future now.


End file.
